Swetmann 10

Swetmann ‘of Claxton’ (Norfolk), fl. 1066
Male
DWP
4 of 5

Name

Swetmann
Swetmann 9
Swetmann 11

Summary

Swetmann 10 held an estate in east Norfolk TRE assessed at 30 acres and a church with a further 30 acres; he was also the lord of numerous free and ‘half’ free men in the vicinity, whose lands with his own brought the total assessment to 1¾ carucates with a value of 60s. Swetmann 10 himself was under the lordship of Archbishop Stigand (Stigand 1).

Distribution map of property and lordships associated with this name in DB

List of property and lordships associated with this name in DB

Holder 1066

Shire Phil. ref. Vill DB Spelling Holder 1066 Lord 1066 Tenant-in-Chief 1086 1086 Subtenant Fiscal Value 1066 Value 1086 Value Conf. Show on Map
Norfolk 9,56 Claxton Suetman Swetmann 'of Claxton' Stigand, archbishop of Canterbury Roger Bigod Robert de Vaux 0.25 0.48 0.48 C Map
Norfolk 9,56 Claxton - Swetmann 'of Claxton' - Roger Bigod Robert de Vaux 0.25 0.15 0.15 C Map
Totals

Lord 1066

Shire Phil. ref. Vill DB Spelling Holder 1066 Lord 1066 Tenant-in-Chief 1086 1086 Subtenant Fiscal Value 1066 Value 1086 Value Conf. Show on Map
Norfolk 9,56 Claxton Suetman 15 free men Swetmann Roger Bigod Robert de Vaux 0.25 0.48 0.48 C Map
Norfolk 9,56 Claxton - 13 half-free men Swetmann Roger Bigod Robert de Vaux 0.42 0.79 0.79 D Map
Norfolk 9,57 Ashby St Mary - 10 free men Swetmann Roger Bigod Robert de Vaux 0.25 0.48 0.48 D Map
Norfolk 9,57 Ashby St Mary - 7 half-free men Swetmann Roger Bigod Robert de Vaux 0.23 0.43 0.43 D Map
Norfolk 9,58 Hellington - 1 half-free man Swetmann Roger Bigod - 0.07 0.13 0.13 D Map
Norfolk 9,59 Carleton St Peter - 1 free man Swetmann Roger Bigod - 0.04 0.08 0.08 D Map
Totals

Profile

The identification of Swetmann 10 rests mainly on the rarity of his name and the close geographical clustering of his lands and lordships. No other lands in Norfolk can be assigned to him nor is there any reason to consider him in connection with any other TRE landholder called Swetmann, all of whom occur 40 miles or more from Claxton.

Swetmann 10’s little estate was at Claxton, on the edge of the marshes south of the River Yare in east Norfolk and between two minor tributaries of that river, namely Claxton Fleet and Carleton Beck. He appears to have been the wealthiest of the numerous free men between whom Claxton was divided TRE and Swetmann held not only his own 30 acres but also the vill’s church with a further 30 acres. In addition, fifteen of the other free men and thirteen ‘half’ free men (a term that may refer to the nature of their lordship rather than to their free status) at Claxton were in Swetmann’s lordship and Swetmann himself held his land under (sub) Archbishop Stigand 1, although it is not entirely clear if these lordships were commendatory or by dependent tenure.

A further eleven free men and eight ‘half’ free men in three adjacent vills – Ashby, Hellington and Carleton – were also described in DB as ‘of the same man’, and the short sequence of entries dealing with these vills follow on from those dealing with Swetmann’s Claxton holdings and lordships. That all were regarded together as a single estate is emphasised by the fact that the value of 60s for the whole, which had a total assessment of 1¾ carucates, was entered in DB at the end of this sequence. There is, therefore, no real doubt that Swetmann 10 was the lord of these men also.

On his demesne land Swetmann had one plough while his dependent peasants, comprising seven bordars who with their households provided the workforce, are recorded as having ‘always ploughed with two oxen’. The implication is that they used a light plough on their own land whereas the arable of Swetmann’s demesne was worked by a heavier one with a full plough-team of eight oxen. The pastoral part of his demesne lands is not given separately but the summary for the estate as a whole suggests that sheep-farming predominated, presumably exploiting the marshland grazing. DB also records ‘a horse at the hall’ (equus in aula), although the significance of this occasional formula is not certain; Rumble (1986: DB Suffolk 1,97 Notes) suggests that in LDB ‘at the hall’ is simply another way of saying ‘in demesne’.

Bibliography


Rumble 1986: ed. A. Rumble, Domesday Book 34: Suffolk (Chichester, 1986)